Cooking Chicken for the Week in 22 minutes

I just love when I’ve planned ahead for the week and have all the dinners in mind I want to make.

Often that doesn’t happen, but lets pretend it happens every week.

Okay?

This is my new TIME SAVER.

Cook the chicken you need all at once.

Sounds simple enough, right. But what if you haven’t planned out your weeks meals and just want to imcorperate chicken in to most of your meals, great! That is where my TIME SAVER tip really comes in handy.

I cooked 6 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts in my pressure cooker in 22 minutes. Yes you heard me right, they were all finished cooking and ready to be added to the many many options of meals I was about to make this week.

This idea is great for the weeks when you it will be CRAZY at dinnertime.

I just LOVE my pressure cooker for chicken, it comes out perfectly cooked, not dry, doesn’t taste boiled, and saves me lots of time and effort when I need to get meals on the table fast, or for a quick lunch, perfect to add to a salad, or pasta salad…like this

I have a 6 quart Presto Pressure Cooker here is a link to the one I have on Amazon.

I place 6 pounds of boneless skinless chicken into my pressure cooker with 4 cups water. The water is just coming over the cooling rack in the pressure cooker, that way the chicken isn’t sitting in the water and I have plenty of chicken stock when I’m done.

It takes 10 minutes for it to come to the proper pressure and I cook it for 12 minutes with the pressure regulator rocking high.

I then place all the chicken into my KitchenAid mixer and turn it on high for about 30 seconds and it is then all shredded. No standing there with two forks shredding it until my hands hurt anymore.

Wow — what a dream it was to shred the chicken from my new pressure cooker with my Kitchen Aid. Thanks for a life changing post My son said the shredded chicken would be great on a chicken Caesar because you’d get chicken in every bite instead of just a few. Tonight it’s chicken tacos and chicken enchilada soup.

I have lots of kitchen appliances, but one that I don’t have is a pressure cooker, although I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I’d love to get one – thanks for sharing how you use it make chicken!

I just started doing this for a week’s worth of meals by cooking it over the weekend. How long would you say I can keep the shredded chicken in the fridge before I would need to start freezing it? TIA!

When you say ” The water is just coming over the cooling rack in the pressure cooker, that way the chicken isn’t sitting in the water and I have plenty of chicken stock when I’m done.” do you mean you sit the chicken on the little grill rack looking thing that came with the pressure cooker for steaming? I have the newwave 5 in 1 pressure cooker.

I love doing this. I have a 6 qt electric pressure cooker and live how quick it does chicken (and roasts). We shred the chicken with the KA also. My kids used to hate being me shred but now they are mice than happy to user the KA to do it. I’ll have to try adding a little more water when I do my chicken to get plenty of stock. Thanks for the tip.

Diane- I just cae aross your blog today on pinterest- I have a question for you- you say above that you place 6 pounds of boneless skinless chicken into my pressure cooker with 4 cups water. The water is just coming over the cooling rack in the pressure cooker, that way the chicken isn’t sitting in the water and I have plenty of chicken stock when I’m done.
What is a cooling rack – I have seen a trivet but putting 4 cups water will not keep the chicken above the water level.

secondly I dont have a kitchen aid – I have another electric grinder can i use it for shredding the chicken – that is a wonderful idear of yours

Hello, my pressure cooker has a rack it rests slightly above the bottom of the pan. It has holes in it.It’s ok if some of the water is touching the chicken and it will depend on the size of your pressure cooker and how wide it is as to whether or not the water will be on the chicken. I don’t think it’s curtail either way. If you use a pressure cooker, use your best judgement.
I’m not sure how the electric meat grinder would be as I haven’t used one. I prefer the chicken shredded not ground, you can shred it with two forks or slice it finely if you prefer.
Thanks for your questions, I hope my answers are helpful.
~Diane

Diane I have a prestige pressure cooker which has a trivet and if you pour 1 cup of water in the cooker on the trivet the trivet would be below the water level and the chicken would be sitting in the water
is there a picture on the website of the cooling rack that you mentioned
thanks

Hi Diane. I followed your instructions today and my chicken turned out great and shredding it worked perfectly! I couldn’t believe how quickly the KitchenAid shredded it. I had serious doubts that it would even work, but it worked like a charm. Thank you so much!

Thank you so much for this recipe. I have been using my pressure for decades, but have never made this. I am getting ready for a work team and needed shredded chicken breast and I usually buy it in the cans at Sam’s. What a money saver this is! Bought the chicken on sale, came right home and cooked the chicken in the pressure cooker (do you cool immediately or let the pressure drop on its own accord?) and then shredded! About half the cost of buying the cans!! I’m also cooking a pork loin and will try to shred it in the Kitchen Aid. Thank you so much for your wonderful ideas!!

I cool the pressure cooker with water, it seems like I’m always in a hurry and I do pork spare ribs in the pressure cooker and they are also a family favorite. Yes it is a HUGE money saver to buy, cook and shred chicken your self vs. buying it already done, and it tastes better too. Glad you liked it.

I also cook a whole (bone-in) chicken which is sometimes on sale really cheap, in my crockpot. It usually lasts us for two dinners and a lunch or two and it’s as easy as adding herbs, the chicken and either chicken stock and/or a little butter to the crock pot.

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[…] in a slow cooker if you prefer. Use two forks to shred the chicken or take a look at this post on Cooking Chicken for the Week in 22 Minutes. If you prepare it that way, just add the sauce after the chicken is cooked and […]

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